Public Safety committee  Mr. Chair, what I can say clearly is these conversations are very live and ongoing. I'm not particularly involved in that component, but there are very much ongoing and alive conversations on that.

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Chair, we have been working closely with the Hotel Association of Canada—

Public Safety committee  What I'm explaining is that as a hotel policy there are always locks on the doors. There is not a room that does not have a lock on the door. There are different ways to open the door, but that is a standard in—

Public Safety committee  We have given guidance to the Hotel Association to provide—

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chair, again, this is a regular procedure. We work through the Hotel Association—

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chair, I would like to re-emphasize the fact that, yes, we work closely with the Hotel Association, but we also make sure our presence in those areas.... The security we have on site is actually briefed on any of these kinds of concerns. That takes place as a normal matter of fact as we go forward.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. Mr. Chair, what I want to reiterate is that we work very closely with the Hotel Association of Canada, with regular communication and reminding them of the guidelines and the procedures that they should have in place. We also do the check-ins to make sure that those things are happening, and that is very much happening in real time.

Public Safety committee  May I, Mr. Chair?

Public Safety committee  One of the things we mentioned earlier very much is that there are certain criteria that the hotels need to fulfill, which include the security, the care and nurturing, as well as the other components, which they really need to provide. One of them is to make sure that there is proper security in place so that these events don't happen.

Public Safety committee  PHAC has actually worked with the Hotel Association of Canada, which provides the—

Public Safety committee  That's what I'm trying to explain, Mr. Chair, that, as such, the hotels have their protocol, and the security and safety of the clientele who is in there are the responsibility of the hotel. They have door locks, and they have the right kind of monitoring mechanism also. That's what we rely on in terms of making sure that the clients will be taken care of.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chair, the information that is being produced as a result of continuous assessment continues to be put together. There are very limited information pieces available right now. As the travellers come in, we are gathering that information as we go.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chair, as we actually started to look at the two things—the variants of concern and any chance of importation of COVID-19 from the countries showing high transmissibility and a higher rate of infectivity—this was the right step to take in terms of making sure we do not introduce any of those variants that could be either highly transmissible or could have a potential of causing a higher death rate.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll start. Also, thank you to the honourable members. I'd like to start by echoing the earlier sentiments that were expressed, that the travellers who are in quarantine should feel safe and secure at all times. Today, I am here to speak to you about the border measures that are in place to protect Canadians from COVID-19, and its variants.